I 


Donegal  in  the  Revolution 


Patriotism  and  Piety 


AN  ADDDRESS 

At  the  Unveiling  of  a  Monument  to  the  Memory  of  the  Revolutionary 

Soldiers  of  Donegal,  Lancaster  County ,  Pennsylvania,  erected 

fay  the  "  Witness  Tree  Chapter,"  Daughters  of 

the  American  Revolution, 

THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  5,  1899 


BY 

HON.  MARRIOTT  BROSIUS 


Press  op 

The  New  Eea  Printing  Company 

Lancaster,  Pa. 


.<SfoN  OF  PRffiggV 
JAN  22  1932  * 

Donegal  in  the  Revolution 


Patriotism  and  Piety 


AN  ADDDRESS 

At  the  Unveiling  of  a  Monument  to  the  Memory  of  the  Revolutionary 

Soldiers  of  Donegal,  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania,  erected 

if 

by  the  "  "Witness  Tree  Chapter/*  Daughters  of 
tlje  American  Revolution, 

THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  5,  1899 


BY   // 

HON.  MARRIOTT  BROSIUS 


Press  of 

The  New  Era  Printing  Company 

Lancaster,  Pa. 


DONEGAL  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PIETY 


That  the  patriotic  women  of  "Wit- 
ness Tree"  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the 
A.merican  Revolution,  had  their  inter- 
est engaged  and  their  exertions  stimu- 
lated by  the  work  of  erecting  the  com- 
memorative shaft  which  has  just  been 
unveiled  is  due  to  their  profound  ven- 
eration for  the  sterling  patriotism  and 
heroic  character  of  the  citizens  of 
Donegal  whose  illustrious  example  and 
salutary  lessons  in  the  struggle  for  in- 
dependence are  to  be  perpetuated  in 
the  remembrance  of  mankind  by  this 
simple,  chaste  and  beautiful  memorial 
monolith. 

It  is  a  noble  testimonial  and  an  honor 
to  its  projectors.  It  has  the  sanction 
of  an  age-long  custom.  History  does 
not  record  a  time  when  monuments 
were  not  the  customary  means  of 
commemorating  great  events,  historic 
occasions  and  distinguished  services. 

Standing  in  the  midst  of  your  people, 
on  a  central  and  commanding  site,  in 
the  shadow  of  your  ancient  church,  this 
shaft  will  arrest  the  eye,  awaken  the 
admiration  and  stimulate  the  devotion 
and  loyalty  of  the  generations  that 
shall  come  and  go  while  its  enduring 
granite  resists  the  tooth  of  time. 

Out  of  a  seething  human  caldron  in 
which  singularly  diverse  race  elements 
had  boiled  together  there  came  one  of 
the  sturdiest  of  races — the  Scotch-Irish. 
Subjected  to  persecution  which  aimed 
at  the  overthrow  of  their  Presbyterian- 
ism,  they  accepted  William  Penn's 
gracious  invitation  and  sought  freedom 


(4) 

of  worship  in  the  wilds  of  the  new 
world.  By  1750,  twelve  thousand 
Scotch-Irish  had  come  over,  most  of 
whom  found  homes  in  Pennsylvania. 

Among  these  newcomers  were  the 
Galbraith  brothers,  John  and  James. 
The  former  tarried  in  Philadelphia,  but 
James  sought  the  inviting  lands  beyond 
the  Conestoga.  As  soon  as  he  had 
sheltered  his  family  under  a  home  roof 
he  organized  a  church.  In  less  than 
two  years,  it  is  said,  a  meeting  house 
stood  upon  the  sweetest  spot  in  Penn- 
sylvania, a  pleasant  wooded  hill,  with 
a  perennial  spring  bubbling  up  its  cool 
water  for  man  and  beast.  In  this  cabin 
church  they  worshiped  God  and  re- 
joiced in  their  new  freedom. 

This  little  Donegal  meeting  house 
near  the  spot  where  we  are  now  as- 
sembled became  the  nursery  of  Pres- 
byterianism  for  the  colonies.  Andrew, 
son  of  Jas.  Galbraith,  was  one  of  the 
first  elders  of  the  church,  as  well  as  the 
first  coroner  of  the  county.  Later  he  be- 
came a  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  and  was  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  for  seven  consecutive 
years. 

James,  the  brother  of  Andrew,  was 
visibly  touched  by  the  charms  of  the 
daughter  of  the  new  minister  just 
called  to  the  Derry  Church.  She  was 
beautiful  and  accomplished  and  besides 
had  expectations  through  her  mother, 
Elizabeth  Gillespie,  who  was  heiress  to 
a  handsome  estate  in  Edinburg.  It 
shortly  came  to  pass  that  Elizabeth 
Bartram,  daughter  of  Rev.  -  William 
Bartram,  became  the  wife  of  James 
Galbraith,  Jr. 

James  was  a  man  of  light  and  lead- 
ing in  the  Donegal  community.  He 
was  twice  Sheriff  of  the  county,  was 
Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
Captain  in  the  "Associators"  and  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  in  the  French  and  In- 
dian War.  In  1777  he  was  appointed 
Lieutenant  of  Militia.  He  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three  years  after  seeing 


(5) 

all  his  sons  officers  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution. 

From  the  union  of  Galbraith  and 
Bartram  there  came  Bartram  Gal- 
braith, whose  name  appears  conspicu- 
ously upon  this  monument.  This  dis- 
tinguished citizen  and  soldier  did  more 
perhaps  than  any  other  to  rouse  Done- 
gal to  arms  and  organize  her  battalions 
for  the  war.  He  had  been  an  officer  in 
the  French  and  Indian  War  and  was 
an  early  and  strenuous  advocate  of  the 
independence  of  the  Colonies.  In  the 
first  movement  toward  the  organization 
of  the  county  for  defence  he  was  elect- 
ed a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Ob- 
servation and  Correspondence;  he  rep- 
resented Donegal  in  a  provincial  con- 
vention held  in  Philadelphia  in  1775; 
he  was  Lieutenant  of  Lancaster  county 
and  as  such  was  charged  with  grave 
and  responsible  duties  in  connection 
with  the  military  organization  of  the 
county  and  the  safe-keeping  of  the 
British  and  Hessian  prisoners  in  the 
barracks  at  Lancaster;  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Provincial  Conference  in 
Carpenter's  Hall,  Philadelphia,  in  June 
1776,  a  conference  called  in  pursuance 
of  a  resolution  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress to  make  provisions  for  a  suitable 
frame  of  government;  he  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Conven- 
tion which  met  in  pursuance  of  the 
agreement  of  the  previous  conference 
to  draft  the  constitution  of  1776;  he 
commanded  one  of  the  Pennsylvania 
battalions,  recruited  largely  in  Done- 
gal township,  and  was  engaged  in  the 
New  Jersey  campaign,  in  the  summer 
of  1776.  While  at  Bordentown,  three 
or  four  of  his  companies  were  assigned 
to  the  "Flying  Camp,"  a  body  of  troops 
authorized  by  Act  of  the  Continential 
Congress,  and  which  rendered  valuable 
service  in  the  battles  of  King's  Bridge 
and  Long  Island  in  the  fall  of  1776, 
sustaining  heavy  losses  in  killed  ard 
wounded. 

Colonel  Galbraith,  after  the  war,  fol- 


(6) 

lowed  his  profession, that  of  a  surveyor, 
at  Bainbridge,  where  he  resided  for 
many  years.  He  died  in  1804,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-six  years — "beloved  in  life 
and  lamented  in  death." 

Colonel  Alexander  Lowerycame  from 
the  North  of  Ireland.  His  father, 
Lazarus  Lowery,  with  his  family,  set- 
tled in  Donegal  in  1729.  He  was  an  In- 
dian trader,  as  were  his  sons 
after  him.  Alexander  was  a  man  of 
great  physical  strength  and  prowess. 
No  Indian  could  outrun  him.  He  was 
thrifty  in  business  and  accumulated 
wealth,  becoming  the  owner  of  large 
tracts  of  the  best  land  in  Donegal.  He 
was,  in  every  sense,  a  leading  citizen, to 
whom  the  community  looked  up  with 
implicit  confidence  and   great  respect. 

When  the  struggle  for  independence 
commenced,  he  took  an  active  and  ef- 
fective part  on  the  side  of  the  colonies. 
As  early  as  1774,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Correspondence, 
which  met  in  Philadelphia  July  15, 
1774.  He  was  Colonel  of  the  Third 
Pennsylvania  Battalion,  was  a  member 
of  the  State  Assembly  in  1775-1776,  and 
again  in  1778-1780.  For  a  short  period 
he  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion which  framed  the  first  constitution 
of  Pennsylvania. 

He  was  a  brave  and  accomplished 
soldier.  His  battalion,  mostly  Donegal- 
ians,  joined  Washington's  army  and 
won  distinction  for  bravery  at  Brandy- 
wine  and  Germantown.  In  the  former 
battle,  his  command  suffered  heavy 
losses.  It  will  be  remembered  that  sev- 
eral hundred  of  the  wounded  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Brandywine  were  removed  to  the 
Cloister  Hospital  at  Ephrata,  where 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  died 
and  were  buried  at  Mount  Zion. 
Whether  any  of  the  Donegal  boys  were 
among  these  still  unmonumented 
heroes   we  may  never  know. 

After   the   war   Colonel    Lowery   be- 


(?) 

came  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  admin- 
istered justice  according  to  tradition  in 
some  original  ways,  but  always  hold- 
ing the  scales  in  equal  poise.  His  hos- 
pitable home  in  Marietta  was  a  house 
of  entertainment  for  the  distinguished 
statesmen  in  transit  to  and  from 
York,  when  Congress  was  in  session  at 
that  place.  After  the  battle  and  vic- 
tory at  Saratoga,  General  Gates  and 
wife  were  the  guests  of  Colonel  and 
Mrs.  Lowery.  The  entertainment  was 
the  best  the  house  afforded,  and  Mrs. 
Lowery  was  not  averse  to  ostentatious 
hospitality. 

Colonel  Lowery  possessed,  in  a 
marked  degree,  the  strong  characteris- 
tics of  his  race.  His  business  qualifica- 
tions gave  him  a  pre-eminence  enjoyed 
by  few  men  of  his  day.  He  had  a  re- 
markable memory,  sound  judgment  and 
an  upright  mind.  He  stood  in  such 
high  repute  that  he  was  frequently 
called  to  remote  sections  to  compose 
business  differences  and  settle  disputes 
about  the  title  of  lands. 

In  no  respect,  however,  was  he  more 
distinguished  than  by  his  sterling  love 
of  liberty  and  loyalty  to  the  cause  of 
independence.  He  hated  tyranny,  de- 
spised royalty,  and  would  not  tolerate 
anything  that  smacked  of  imitation  of 
its  glitter  and  show. 

Gail  Hamilton  records  that,  when 
Mrs.  Lowery  was  ordering  the  trap- 
pings for  her  new  carriage,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  Colonel,  she  innocently 
bespoke  a  coat-of-arms.  When  the 
Colonel  came  home  and  saw  the 
accursed  thing,  he  demanded  a  hatchet 
and  forthwith  hacked  off  the  pretty  bau- 
ble, and  buried  it  with  his  own  hands, 
"and  no  man  knoweth  the  place  of  its 
sepulchre  to  this  day."  Some  of  the  best 
citizens  of  this  and  adjoining  communi- 
ties have  the  honor  to  trace  their  line- 
age to  this  good  man,  this  upright  citi- 
zen, this  splendid  patriot.  He  died  in 
1805,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his 
age,  lamented  by  all  who  knew  him. 


(8) 

Scotch-Irish  Character. 

The  limits  of  this  occasion  will  not 
admit  of  an  inquiry  into  the  lives  of 
others  whose  names  are  inscribed  on 
this  memorial  shaft.  This  brief  sketch 
of  the  two  most  distinguished  of  Done- 
gal patriots  of  the  Revolution  may 
serve  as  an  introduction  to  some  re- 
flections on  the  character  of  the  race 
from  which  these  patriotic  Donegalians 
came  and  which  accounts  for  the  record 
they  made  in  the  annals  of  their  coun- 
try for  patriotism  and  piety. 

It  has  been  said:  "Every  man  at  his 
birth  is  an  epitome  of  his  progenitors." 
He  starts  out  with  the  elements  of  his 
character  drawn  from  the  widest 
sources  wTith  which  the  problem  of 
every  life  is  concerned.  It  is  not  the 
dome  of  St.  Peter's,  but  how  the  hand 
that  rounded  it  acquired  its  skill;  not 
the  play  of  "Hamlet,"  but  how  the 
mind  that  gave  it  its  own  wondrous 
birth  was  developed,  that  are  the  con- 
cern of  history  and  philosophy. 

That  the  Quaker  and  German  wave 
of  settlement  halted  for  a  time  at  least 
at  the  Conestoga  Creek,  while  the 
Scotch-Irish  pressed  forward  and  pre- 
empted the  fair  country  lying  between 
the  Conestoga  on  the  east  and  the  Sus- 
quehanna on  the  west.finds  its  explana- 
tion in  the  character  of  the  races.  The 
sweet  temper  and  non-resistent  prin- 
ciples of  the  Quaker  and  the  Palatine 
little  suited  them  to  the  hardships  and 
the  perils  of  the  frontier  to  which  the 
Scotch-Irish,  by  their  hardihood, 
aggressiveness,  intrepidity  and  com- 
bativeness  were  well  adapted.  The 
post  of  the  hardy  sons  of  Ulster  was 
always  at  the  front  on  the  firing  line. 
They  were  a  wall  of  fire  between  the 
savages  in  the  wilderness  and  the  men 
of  peace  on  the  Delaware.  They  were 
the  advance  couriers  of  civilization  and 
were  not  deterred  when  rough  surgery 
was  needed  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
the  situation.    They  seemed  to  be  equal 


(9) 

to  any  and  all  situations.  It  has  been 
said  they  possessed  that  one  transcend- 
ent, almost  omnipotent  quality,  the 
power  to  shape  events  by  the  resistless 
force  of  their  personality;  a  quality 
which  some  one  has  likened  to  the  en- 
chanted bow  in  the  Arabian  story  that 
took  its  strength  from  the  arm  that 
drew  it.  In  a  child's  hand  it  was  a  toy 
to  shoot  at  birds;  in  the  hand  of  a  war- 
rior it  sent  its  shaft  through  shield  and 
cuirass;  but  when  drawn  by  the  arm  of 
a  giant  sent  aloft  a  shaft  that  kindled 
with  its  swiftness  and  left  a  track  of 
fire  among  the  stars. 

They  were  intelligent  and  thrifty, 
had  wrestled  with  adverse  conditions 
for  generations.  Struggle  had  de- 
veloped brain  and  brawn.  For  cen- 
turies they  had  not  known  purple  or 
fine  linen,  or  downy  beds  of  ease, 
or  sumptuous  living.  Danger  had 
made  them  heroic.  Their  persecution 
and  suffering  made  them  battling  men 
"of  grim  face,  clenched  fist  and  primed 
rifle."  The  constant  presence  of  peril 
and  apprehension  that  kept  them  in 
the  midst  of  alarms  made  them  as 
alert,  quick-scented  and  keen-eyed  as 
the  savage  himself.  They  knew  their 
path  by  day  was  liable  to  be  ambushed 
and  the  darkness  of  the  night  to  glit- 
ter with  the  blaze  of  their  homes. 
Fathers  saw  their  sons  fall  victims  of 
the  tomahawk.  Mothers  witnessed 
the  war-whoop  wake  the  sleep  of  the 
cradle.  But  nothing  daunted  them; 
westward  they  forged  their  way.  At 
that  early  day  they  were  quite  within 
the  witticism  of  Charles  Dickens,  that 
an  American  would  not  accept  a  place 
in  Heaven  unless  he  was  allowed  to 
move  West.  Their  posterity  inherited 
the  habit  and  followed  the  course  of 
empire.  Few  of  their  descendants  are 
found  here  to-day;  while  the  South 
and  West  are  rich  in  good  citizens, 
splendid  men,  noble  women,  famous 
preachers  and  great  statesmen,  who 
sprang   from   the   rich    "seed    bed"    in 


(10) 

Old  Donegal.  The  President  of  the 
UnitedStates  proudly  traces  his  lineage 
to  the  same  invincible  stock.  In  1770, 
or  thereabouts,  James  Stephenson  lived 
across  the  meadow,  where  iiix-Senator 
J.  Donald  Cameron  now  resides.  His 
daughter,  Hannah,  married  John  Gray; 
their  daughter,  Sarah,  married  David 
McKinley;  their  son,  James,  married 
Mary  Rose;  their  son,  William,  mar- 
ried Nancy  Allison,  and  they  were  the 
parents  of  William  McKinley,  Jr. 

They  were  the  original  squatter  sov- 
ereigns, and  did  not  trouble  themselves 
much  about  the  trivial  circumstance  of 
title  to  the  land  they  occupied.  Their 
argument  was  short,  sharp  and  deci- 
sive to  them.  They  said:  "It  is 
against  the  laws  of  God  and  nature 
that  so  much  land  should  be  idle  when 
so  many  Christians  want  to  labor  on 
it."  The  logic  of  this  plea  may  not 
be  sound;  the  Quakers  of  the  East  did 
not  think  it  was,  but  Scotch-Irish  per- 
tinacity overcame  all  difficulties,  and 
they  remained  in  Donegal  for  a  time 
rent  free. 

Their  combativeness  was  not  limited 
to  the  enemies  of  their  race  and  coun- 
try. They  could  quarrel  among  them- 
selves. Abraham  Lincoln,  describing 
the  Scotch-Irish  in  the  Civil  War,  said: 
"Both  read  the  same  Bible  and  pray 
to  the  same  God,  and  each  invoke  His 
aid  against  the  other;  for  no  two  men 
can  by  logic  plus  passion  and  self-in- 
terest get  farther  apart  than  two 
Scotch-Irishmen." 

In  the  controversy  between  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland  before  the  line 
was  established,  one,  Benjamin  Cham- 
bers, was  arrested  in  Maryland  as  a 
spy.  He  made  his  escape  and  went  to 
Donegal  and  collected  a  number  of 
Scotch-Irish,  whom,  he  said,  "would 
as  soon  fight  as  eat."  Their  fighting 
proclivities  did  not  cease  until  after 
the  War  of  the  Revolution.  Another 
has  suggested  that  when  the  redskins 
were     vanquished     they     turned   their 


(11) 

rifles  upon  the  red-coats  and  did  not 
stop  firing  until  their  independence 
was  achieved. 

They  were  disputatious.  They  had 
an  instinct  for  logic.  They  were  meta- 
physicians, as  well  as  theologians,  and 
argued  their  way  through  the  intricate 
problems  of  theology  and  philosophy 
with  the  same  daring  as  they  fought 
the  "red-coats,"  and  harmonized  the 
doctrines  of  "free  will"  and  the  "fore- 
knowledge of  God"  as  successfully  as 
they  could  demonstrate  the  right  of 
the  colonies  to  be  free  and  independ- 
ent. So  the  church  did  not  enjoy  im- 
munity from  schism.  At  an  early 
day  the  "Old  Light"  and  the  "New 
Light"  controversy  dismembered  con- 
gregations very  much  as  other  schisms 
rend  the  churches  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later. 

With  their  brain  and  their  brawn 
and  the  general  excellency  of  their 
character  they  were  not  without  de- 
fects, and  they  were  humble  and 
honest  enough  to  own  it.  It  was  their 
own  saying:  "If  we  have  a  bushel  fu' 
of  vartues  we  have  a  peck  fu'  of 
fauts."  Their  rugged  nature  expressed 
itself  in  the  "working  words  of  the 
language,"  at  times  and  on  provoca- 
tions; but  it  was  a  gross  exaggeration 
to  say  that  "the  Scotch-Irish  clothed 
themselves  with  curses  as  with  a  gar- 
ment." They  were  not  saints,  though 
they  had  a  firm  faith  in  the  "perse- 
verance of  the  saints."  John  Duncan, 
a  brother  of  the  jurist,  fought  a  duel 
with  the  grandfather  of  Robert  A. 
Lamberton,  LL.D.,  once  President  of 
Lehigh  University.  It  arose,  as  most 
duels  did,  out  of  some  trifling  contro- 
versy about  politics.  They  were  dis- 
posed to  resist  the  collection  of  a  tax 
on  whisky.  They  had  emigrated  for 
liberty,  which  included  freedom  from 
restriction  in  trade.  It  was  said  of 
them  that  they  could  not  see  why  they 
should  pay  a  duty  for  drinking  their 
grain     any     more  than  for  eating  it. 


(12) 

Their  second  thought,  however,  recon- 
ciled them  to  the  law.  If  their  desire 
to  carry  their  point  and  win  elections 
carried  them  at  times  into  some  ex- 
cesses, it  is  not  believed  by  candid  his- 
torians that  their  turbulence  at  the 
York  election  was  great  enough  to 
justify  the  order  of  the  proprietaries 
that  no  more  Scotch-Irish  should  be 
allowed  to  take  up  land  in  York 
county.  Much  that  has  been  said  in 
disparagement  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of 
the  early  day  has  value  rather  for  its 
humor  than  its  truth.  At  all  events, 
happier  days  and  sweeter  experiences 
with  closer  contact  with  the  Quakers 
and  the  Palatines,  together  with  the 
"mighty  forces  of  sweetness  and  light 
working  in  this  broad,  free  and  many- 
blooded  Republic,  have  made  the  pos- 
terity of  those  stern,  rugged,  fighting 
ancestors  a  kindly,  gentle  and  amiable 
folk." 

Patriotism. 

The  Scotch-Irish  in  Donegal,  as  well 
as  elsewhere,  were  thoroughly  loyal  to 
two  things,  the  cause  of  independence 
and  the  Presbyterian  faith.  When  the 
church  was  without  a  pastor  they 
would  go  to  "land's  end"  to  find  one. 
When  their  liberty  was  assailed  they 
clamored  for  firearms,  powder  and 
lead.  They  believed  the  "tyrant's  foe 
the  people's  friend."  They  were 
trained  in  the  school  of  John  Knox, 
who  taught  what  another  has  felici- 
tously expressed,  that  "resistance  to 
tyrants  is  obedience  to  God."  Accord- 
ingly, these  pathfinders  of  our  civiliza- 
tion were  foremost  in  the  cause  of  in- 
dependence. Bancroft  says:  "Their 
training  in  Ireland  had  kept  the  spirit 
of  liberty  alive."  The  same  writer  is 
authority  for  the  statement  that  "the 
first  public  voice  in  America  for 
dissolving  all  connection  with  Great 
Britain  came  not  from  the  Puritans  of 
New  England,  nor  the  Dutch  of  New 
York,  nor  the  planters  of  Virginia,  but 


(13) 

from  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Pennsyl- 
vania." It  was  a  Scotch-Irish  assem- 
bly that  in  June,  1774,  made  the  heroic 
resolve  ''that  in  the  event  of  Great 
Britain  attempting  to  enforce  unjust 
laws  upon  us  by  the  strength  of  arms 
our  cause  we  leave  to  Heaven  and  our 
rifles." 

It  was  a  singular  coincidence  that  at 
the  moment  the  Continental  Congress 
was  adopting  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  Scotch-Irish  squatter 
sovereigns  of  the  Susquehanna  Valley, 
in  convention  assembled,  were  declar- 
ing by  solemn  resolution  for  freedom 
and  independence.  The  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  instructed  their  delegates  in 
Congress  to  oppose  every  proposal  of 
separation  from  the  mother  country. 
But  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  frontier  at 
the  same  time  petitioned  the  Assembly, 
declaring: 

"If  those  who  rule  in  Britain  will 
not  permit  the  colonies  to  be  free  and 
happy  in  connection  with  that  King- 
dom, it  becomes  their  duty  to  secure 
and  promote  their  freedom  and  happi- 
ness in  the  best  manner  they  can  with- 
out that  connection."  They  further 
prayed  "that  the  last  instructions 
which  the  Assembly  gave  the  delegates 
from  this  colony  in  Congress,  wherein 
they  were  enjoined  not  to  consent  to 
any  step  which  may  lead  to  separation 
from  Great  Britain,  may  be  with- 
drawn." 

Early  in  1774  meetings  were  held  in 
Lancaster  county  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  for  the  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence. These  meetings  all  set 
forth  the  duty  of  opposition  to  the  op- 
pressive measures  of  Parliament;  advo- 
cating a  union  of  the  colonies  and  an 
appeal  to  arms.  Thus,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  resolves  of  the  people  of  Lan- 
caster county  antedated  the  Mecklen- 
burg Declaration  almost  a  year,  and 
led  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  by 
Congress  by  more  than  two  years. 
Nearly  all  the  Scotch-Irish  participated 


(14) 

in  these  meetings,  joined  the  liberty 
associations  and  held  themselves  ready 
to  march  at  a  moment's  notice.  It  is 
believed  that  nearly  every  able-bodied 
male  member  of  the  Donegal  Church 
was  a  soldier  either  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War  or  the  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

The  Continental  Congress  provided 
for  the  appointment  of  Committees  of 
Observation  and  Correspondence  in 
each  county.  Donegal  was  represented 
in  that  committee  by  Bartram  Gal- 
braith,  Alexander  Lowery,  James  Cun- 
ningham, Frederick  Mumma  and  Rob- 
ert Craig.  The  duty  of  this  committee 
was  to  attentively  observe  the  conduct 
of  all  persons  touching  the  use  or  sale 
of  interdicted  articles,  or  opposing,  in 
any  way,  the  patriotic  efforts  of  the 
colonists  to  free  themselves  from  the 
oppression  of  Parliament.  If  any  one 
was  found  delinquent  in  these  particu- 
lars they  were  declared  to  be  enemies 
to  American  liberty,  and,  thereafter, 
patriots  would  abstain  from  dealing 
with  them.  Boycotting  was  thus  early 
employed  to  promote  patriotism.  Few 
of  the  Donegalians,  however,  became 
amenable  to  this  boycott,  for  their  ag- 
gressive patriotism  urged  them  to  do 
too  much  rather  than  too  little  for  the 
cause  of  the  colonies,  and  they  fully 
agreed  with  Franklin  that  a  cup  of  tea, 
the  cost  of  which  helped  to  pay  the 
salaries  of  tyrants,  would  choke  any 
decent  American. 

During  the  period  of  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  there  were  seventeen  citi- 
zens of  Donegal  who  held  the  rank  of 
Colonel  in  the  army,  not  to  speak  of 
the  great  number  who  filled  the  field 
and  line  offices.  It  is  recorded  that  so 
many  offered  viieir  services  to  Lieu- 
tenant Miller  when  recruiting  a  com- 
pany that  he  chalked  a  small  nose  on 
the  barn  door,  and  said  that  he  would 
take  only  men  who  could  hit  that  nose 
at  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards.  "Take 
care  of  your  nose,  General  Gage,"  was 


(15) 

the   common   newspaper   salutation   of 
the  day. 

My  friends,  well  may  we  honor  and 
venerate  such  splendid  patriotism, such 
matchless  devotion  to  liberty,  as  our 
ancestors  of  Donegal  exhibited  in  the 
days  that  tried  men's  souls,  and  we  can 
not  render  more  suitable  homage  to 
this  commemorative  shaft  than  in  its 
presence  to  renew  our  vows  to  love  of 
country,  and  rededicate  ourselves  to 
the  service  of  those  principles  for 
which  they  were  so  willing  to  do  and 
die. 

Piety. 

To  stop  here  would  leave  the  patriot- 
ism and  other  admirab.e  traits  of  our 
Scotch-Irish  progenitors  inadequately 
accounted  for.  They  possessed  an- 
other trait  which  was  a  conspicuous 
factor  in  all  they  did  and  all  they  were. 
That  was  a  deep  religious  feeling,  a 
sterling  piety.  That  was  the  leaven 
that  leavened  the  splendid  loaf  of  their 
character. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  wide  influence 
of  the  Donegal  Church.  It  was  the 
nursery  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  col- 
onies. The  Scotch-Irish  were  trained 
to  recognize  the  authority  of  the 
church  and  to  do  homage  to  it.  Buckle 
assures  us  the  church  exerted  more  in- 
fluence in  Scotland  and  Ireland  than  in 
any  other  European  country-  The 
log  cabin  church  was  erected  about 
1720,  very  near  the  spot  on  which  this 
church  stands.  The  present  edifice  was 
erected  somewhere  near  the  year  1730. 
The  pulpit  was  served  by  a  number  of 
ministers,  no  one  remaining  longer 
than  two  or  three  years,  until  Rev. 
James  Anderson  came.  His  incumben  v 
continued  until  his  death,  a  period  of 
thirteen  years.  For  a  few  years  there- 
after the  supply  was  precarious  and  in- 
termittent. In  tne  early  forties,  Rev. 
Joseph  Tate  was  installed,  and  re- 
mained until  his  death,  in  1774.  In 
1775,  Rev.  Colin  McFarquhar,  a  recent 
arrival  from  Scotland,   was  called     by 


(16) 

the  congregation,  and     remained     for 
about  thirty  years. 

An  incident  in  the  early  ministry  of 
Mr.  McFarquhar  is  so  characteristic  of 
the  Scotch-Irish,  and  so  illustrative  of 
their  sterling  patriotism,  that  I  hazard 
reproducing  it  in  this  connection, 
though  it  is  familiar  to  most  of  you, 
and  is  under  the  suspicion  of  some  of 
being  apocryphal.  One  Sunday  morn- 
ing in  June,  1777,  Colonel  Galbraith 
sent  an  express  to  Donegal  to  Colonel 
Lowery  to  move  the  battalion  of  Done- 
galians  to  meet  the  advancing  British. 
The  express  arrived  at  the  meeting- 
house during  service.  The  congrega- 
tion adjourned  without  waiting  for  the 
benediction,  and,  forming  a  ring 
around  the  old  oak  tree  in  front  of  the 
church,  and  placing  Mr.  McFarquhar, 
who  had  been  lukewarm  in  the  cause, 
in  the  middle,  made  him  hurrah  for 
the  Continental  cause.  The  congrega- 
tion then  joined  hands  and  renewed 
their  pledge  to  the  sacred  cause  of  free- 
dom and  independence.  The  oak  tree, 
that  splendid  ''monarch"  now  standing 
near  this  church,  was  witness  of  their 
solemn  vow, and  henceforth  was  known 
as  "The  Witness   Tree." 

The  Scotch-Irish,  like  Cromwell's 
celebrated  regiment,  put  religion  in 
their  fighting  as  well  as  in  their  pray- 
ing. If  they  had  to  attend  church  with 
rifle  in  hand  it  detracted  nothing  from 
their  worship.  They  hearkened  gladly 
to  prayers  an  hour  long.  They  listened 
to  sermons  from  eloquent  divines  like 
Duffield  and  others,  who  were  apt  to 
preach  from  texts  which  countenanced 
war,  as  that  from  Hosea,  "The  Lord  is 
a  man  of  war;  '  or  from  Samuel,  "Wh 
is  this  that  he  should  defy  the  armies 
of  the  living  God."  They  believed  the 
Colonists  as  much  the  chosen  and  cov- 
enanted people  of  God  as  were  the  Is- 
raelites; and  that  the  patriot  battal- 
ions were  the  Lord's  instruments  to 
overthrow  the  hosts  of  tyranny  and 
oppression.     A  young  and  enthusiastic 


(17) 

minister,  preaching  to  a  battalion  of 
departing  soldiers  exhorted  them  "to 
be  of  good  cheer,  and  when  the  battle 
came  the  Lord  would  make  them  like 
Saul  and  Jonathan,  'swifter  than 
eagles  and  stronger  than  lions.'  " 

While  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians 
preached  war  when  that  was  the  last 
recourse,  they  countenanced  no  disre- 
spect to  the  Book  of  books.  Their  ven- 
eration for  the  Bible  was  deep  and 
beautiful  to  behold,  although  it  wouid 
not  harmonize  with  modern  higher 
criticism.  They  believed  it  to  be  true 
and  inspired,  every  word  of  it,  and  to 
contain  the  divinely  au..uorized  rules  of 
life.  Rev.  Dr.  Cathcart  preached  at 
Harrisburg  on  one  occasion,  and  was 
entertained  at  the  house  of  an  elder. 

The  Reverend  Doctor  desired  to  pre- 
sent a  neat  appearance  on  Sunday 
morning,  and,  having  no  hone,  he 
strapped  his  razor  on  a  leather-cov- 
ered Bible  he  always  carried  with  him. 
His  eloquent  sermon  that  day  so  im- 
pressed the  elders  that  they  proposed 
to  give  him  a  call.  The  elder  at  whose 
house  he  stopped,  however,  objected 
very  strenuously,  saying:  "I  will  have 
none  of  him;  he  strapped  his  razor  on 
the  Word  of  God." 

Their  reverence  was  deep  and  holy. 
They  believed  that  God's  hand  was  m 
the  sorrows  of  Scotland,  the  struggles 
of  Ulster,  and  the  distresses  of  the 
Colonies;  that  out  of  the  darkness  His 
Hand  was  reaching  to  lead  them,  and 
that  His  Providence  accompanied  H-s 
loving  children  day  and  night;  and 
they  died,  some  one  has  said,  under  a 
contract  with  God  and  in  full  expecta- 
tion that  He  would  grant  them  immor- 
tal life.  So  the  piety  of  the  Donegal- 
ians  was  as  conspicuous  as  their  patri- 
otism; indeed,  was  the  basis  of  their 
patriotism;  and  the  union  of  the  two 
made  them  good  citizens,  grand  men 
and  women,  home  builders  and  State 
builders,  and  we  can  to-day  render 
cheerful   homage  to  the  characteristic 


(13) 

traits  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Revolution- 
ary fathers  of  Donegal,  for  there  are 
no  other  pillars  so  well  suited  to  sus- 
tain the  community,  the  State,  the  na- 
tion, as  Patriotism  and  Piety. 


